Tri-Band Edge-Cut Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna on Composite Substrate for RF Energy Harvesting in IoT Networks

Year : 2026 | Volume : 14 | Special Issue 01 | Page : 867 883
    By

    Patan Imran Khan,

  • Komera Sudhakaru,

  1. Research Scholar, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, JNTUA University, Anantapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, India
  2. Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, St. Johns College of Engineering and Technology (A), Yemmiganur, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

The increasing use of Internet of Things devices underscores the pressing need for sustainable energy solutions, since traditional batteries necessitate regular replacement and constrain scalability. Radio frequency energy harvesting is a viable option; nonetheless, antenna design continues to provide a significant problem owing to the requirements for compactness, efficiency, and multi-band functionality. A hybrid composite substrate configuration combining FR4 (εr = 4.3) and RT Duroid (εr = 2.2) is employed to balance cost, mechanical stability, and electromagnetic performance. This work details the design and modeling of an edge-cut rectangular tri-band microstrip patch antenna suited for radio frequency energy harvesting. The antenna was modeled using Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio on FR4 and RT Duroid substrates, set to resonate at three frequency bands: 1.19 GHz, 1.6 GHz, and 2.49 GHz. Simulation findings indicate reflection coefficients of –14.08 dB at 1.176 GHz, –10.45 dB at 1.6 GHz, and –10.67 dB at 2.49 GHz. The peak gain values recorded were 6.33 dBi, 6.65 dBi, and 6.71 dBi at the corresponding frequencies, whereas axial ratios of 1.42, 2.65, and 2.28 indicate optimum circular polarization. The suggested antenna has markedly enhanced performance in the 2.4 GHz band compared to previous efforts. The results demonstrate that the architecture is appropriate for energizing low-power IoT devices in contexts such as smart cities, healthcare monitoring, and environmental sensor networks. This work’s innovation is its small edge-cut design, which enables efficient tri-band operation with improved gain and polarization attributes, positioning it as a suitable option for next-generation Radio Frequency energy harvesting devices. The proposed antenna’s compact edge-cut rectangular geometry enables efficient tri-band operation with improved gain and polarization characteristics, making it a promising candidate for next-generation radio-frequency energy harvesting in Internet of Things applications.

Keywords: Internet of Things, edge cut rectangular multi-band antenna, Radio Frequency energy harvesting.

[This article belongs to Special Issue under section in Journal of Polymer & Composites (jopc)]

How to cite this article:
Patan Imran Khan, Komera Sudhakaru. Tri-Band Edge-Cut Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna on Composite Substrate for RF Energy Harvesting in IoT Networks. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2026; 14(01):867-883.
How to cite this URL:
Patan Imran Khan, Komera Sudhakaru. Tri-Band Edge-Cut Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna on Composite Substrate for RF Energy Harvesting in IoT Networks. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2026; 14(01):867-883. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/jopc/article=2026/view=236315


References

  1. Kanoun, S. Bradai, S. Khriji, G. Bouattour, D. El Houssaini, M. Ben Ammar, S. Naifar, A. Bouhamed, F. Derbel, and C. Viehweger, “Energy-aware system design for autonomous wireless sensor nodes: A comprehensive review,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 548, Jan. 2021, doi: 10.3390/s21020548.
  2. H. Ibrahim, M. S. J. Singh, S. S. Al-Bawri, and M. T. Islam, “Synthesis, characterization and development of energy harvesting techniques incorporated with antennas: A review study,” Sensors, vol. 20, no. 10, p. 2772, May 2020, doi: 10.3390/s20102772.
  3. Niotaki, S. Kim, S. Jeong, A. Collado, A. Georgiadis, and M. M. Tentzeris, “A compact dual-band rectenna using slot-loaded dual band folded dipole antenna,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 12, pp. 1634–1637, 2013, doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2013.2289817.
  4. Zeng, R. Zhang, and S. Cui, “Wireless charging of mobile devices: The progress and challenges,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 83–89, Feb. 2015, doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7045394.
  5. Tang, Z. Zhang, and S. Liu, “Energy harvesting from Wi-Fi signals: A review,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 65, no. 5, pp. 3551–3561, May 2018, doi: 10.1109/TIE.2017.2750610.
  6. Tao, J. Liu, and X. Zhang, “Wireless power transfer and energy harvesting using Wi-Fi signals,” Energy Reports, vol. 6, pp. 1743–1751, Nov. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.egyr.2020.06.009.
  7. J. Visser and R. J. M. Vullers, “RF energy harvesting and transport for wireless sensor network applications: Principles and requirements,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 101, no. 6, pp. 1410–1423, Jun. 2013, doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2013.2250891.
  8. Arrawatia, M. S. Baghini, and G. Kumar, “Differential microstrip antenna for RF energy harvesting,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 1581–1588, Apr. 2015, doi: 10.1109/TAP.2015.2394441.
  9. Boursianis et al., “Smart irrigation system for precision agriculture—The AREThOU5A IoT platform,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 20, no. 22, pp. 13407–13415, Nov. 2020, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2020.3019216.
  10. Boursianis et al., “Multiband patch antenna design using nature-inspired optimization method,” IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 2, pp. 151–162, 2021, doi: 10.1109/OJAP.2020.3046113.
  11. Wagih, A. S. Weddell, and S. Beeby, “Rectennas for radio-frequency energy harvesting and wireless power transfer: A review of antenna design [antenna applications corner],” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 95–107, Oct. 2020, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2020.3012700.
  12. Sun, Y. Guo, M. He, and Z. Zhong, “Design of a high-efficiency 2.45-GHz rectenna for low-input-power energy harvesting,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 11, pp. 929–932, 2012, doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2012.2212233.
  13. Li, N. Shao, N. Shahshahan, N. Goldsman, T. Salter, and G. M. Metze, “An antenna co-design dual band RF energy harvester,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 3256–3266, Dec. 2013, doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2013.2277747.
  14. Sun, Y. Guo, M. He, and Z. Zhong, “A dual-band rectenna using broadband Yagi antenna array for ambient RF power harvesting,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 12, pp. 918–921, 2013, doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2013.2273395.
  15. Chandravanshi, S. S. Sarma, and M. J. Akhtar, “Design of triple band differential rectenna for RF energy harvesting,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 66, no. 6, pp. 2716–2726, Jun. 2018, doi: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2819676.
  16. J. Chashmi, P. Rezaei, and N. Kiani, “Y-shaped graphene-based antenna with switchable circular polarization,” Optik, vol. 200, p. 163321, Feb. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2019.163321.
  17. Zhang et al., “Back-to-back microstrip antenna design for broadband wide-angle RF energy harvesting and dedicated wireless power transfer,” IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 126868–126875, Jul. 2020, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3008551.
  18. Wang, H. C. Wang, S. C. Tian, H. F. Ma, and T. J. Cui, “Spatial multi-polarized leaky-wave antenna based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 68, no. 12, pp. 8168–8173, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1109/TAP.2020.2997471.
  19. Kashyap, D. Singh, and N. Sharma, “Comprehensive study of microstrip patch antenna using different feeding techniques,” ECS Transactions, vol. 107, no. 1, p. 9545, 2022, doi: 10.1149/10701.9545ecst.
  20. Ali, H. Subbyal, L. Sun, and S. Shamoon, “Wireless energy harvesting using rectenna integrated with voltage multiplier circuit at 2.4 GHz operating frequency,” Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 22–34, 2022, doi: 10.4236/jpee.2022.103002.
  21. Wei et al., “Scalable, dual-band metasurface array for electromagnetic energy harvesting and wireless power transfer,” Micromachines, vol. 13, no. 10, p. 1712, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.3390/mi13101712.
  22. Aguili, “A high-sensitivity wide input-power-range ultra-low-power RF energy harvester for IoT applications,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 69, no. 2, pp. 440–451, Feb. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2021.3126957.
  23. Sanvatsarkar, A. Talla, S. Dadgelwar, R. Gholap, and N. A. Khan, “Design and development of rectenna for wireless energy harvesting,” in Proc. 4th Biennial Int. Conf. Nascent Technol. Eng. (ICNTE), Navi Mumbai, India, Jan. 2021, pp. 1–4, doi: 10.1109/ICNTE51185.2021.9487637.
  24. Nimo, D. Grgić, and L. M. Reindl, “Ambient electromagnetic wireless energy harvesting using multiband planar antenna,” in IEEE 6th Int. Symp. Signal Process. Appl. (ISSPA), Chemnitz, Germany, Mar. 2012, pp. 123–127, doi: 10.1109/ISSPA.2012.6310585.
  25. Sahin and A. Kaya, “2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual band Wi-Fi antenna design for IoT-based smart media application,” Eur. J. Sci. Technol., no. 39, pp. 17–20, 2022, doi: 10.31590/ejosat.1117821.
  26. Patan and S. Komera, “A research perspective review on microwave communications—The fundamentals, techniques, and technologies uniting the wireless world,” in Proc. 2024 4th Int. Conf. Adv. Electr., Comput., Commun. Sustain. Technol. (ICAECT), Bhilai, India, 2024, pp. 1–6, doi: 10.1109/ICAECT60202.2024.10468759.
  27. Patan, “Role of millimeter waves in satellite communication,” Pacific Int. J., vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 181–183, 2018, doi: 10.55014/pij.v1i4.53.
  28. Patan, “Introduction to ultra-wideband antennas,” Pacific Int. J., vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 192–198, 2018, doi: 10.55014/pij.v1i4.58.
  29. Yıldız and H. Aydın, “Investigation of rectenna systems for radio frequency energy harvesting applications,” Sigma J. Eng. Nat. Sci., vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 211–220, 2020.
  30. Quddious, M. Antoniades, and S. Nikolaou, “Voltage-doubler RF-to-DC rectifiers for ambient RF energy harvesting and wireless power transfer systems,” IntechOpen, 2019, doi: 10.5772/intechopen.89271.
  31. Karaçuha, F. T. Çelik, and H. I. Helvaci, “A multi-mode pattern diverse microstrip patch antenna having a constant gain in the elevation plane,” Advanced Electromagnetics, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1–9, 2023, doi: 10.7716/aem.v12i4.2290.
  32. Akdag, M. Keskin, Y. T. Akdag, and M. H. Isik, “A novel circularly polarized reader antenna design for UHF RFID applications,” Wireless Networks, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 2625–2636, 2022, doi: 10.1007/s11276-021-02982-7.
  33. Ibrahim, Y. Kara, and M. Koca, “A wearable circularly polarized antenna for 5G applications,” in 2022 IEEE Signal Process. Commun. Appl. Conf. (SIU), 2022, pp. 1–4, doi: 10.1109/SIU55565.2022.9864687.
  34. I. Khan, A. Nazir, M. Waqas, M. Sohail, A. Shakoor, and M. S. Nazir, “Recent advancements in polymer-based dielectric materials for high-energy-density capacitors: A review,” Molecules, vol. 25, no. 23, p. 5579, 2020, doi: 10.3390/molecules25235579.
  35. Abdallah, M. R. El-Aassar, S. E. Elashery, and N. El-Bagoury, “Optimization and performance analysis of hybrid composite materials reinforced with graphene and natural fibers for enhanced mechanical and thermal properties,” Ain Shams Engineering Journal, vol. 25, p. 102759, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.asej.2024.102759.
  36. Li, Y. He, and J. Zhang, “Novel biodegradable polymer composites reinforced with lignin for sustainable electrical applications,” Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 305–320, 2024, doi: 10.1177/07316844241238507.
  37. Raghunathan and G. Rajeshkumar, “Development of banana fiber–reinforced polymer composites for eco-friendly structural applications,” BioResources, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 2353–2370, 2024, doi: 10.15376/biores.19.2.2353-2370.
  38. Abhishek, K. Prasanna, and K. Mohan, “Mechanical, thermal, and dielectric characterization of jute/hemp hybrid polymer composites,” BioResources, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 698–724, 2025, doi: 10.15376/biores.20.1.698-724.
  39. A. Chowdhury and J. Nayeem, “Microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of conductive polymer composites for RF applications,” Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 65, no. 4, e22167, 2023, doi: 10.1002/vnl.22167.
Special Issue Subscription Review Article
Volume 14
Special Issue 01
Received 03/12/2025
Accepted 02/01/2026
Published 27/01/2026
Publication Time 55 Days
149

Login


My IP

PlumX Metrics